Case library · Whose Fish Are They?
The Harbor Bed Bargain
Illinois Central R.R. Co. v. Illinois (1892)
Charge: Revocation of a submerged-land grantCourt: U.S. Supreme CourtState: IllinoisDocket: Whose Fish Are They?
Could a state give away the bed of a navigable harbor so completely that it could never take the grant back?
The facts
A legislature voted to hand a railway company the bed of a great lake for a mile out from shore, covering most of a city's outer harbor, where the company already ran tracks and a breakwater. Four years later a new legislature repealed the grant outright. The company said it had taken the ground, spent heavily on works and now owned it. The state sued to have the bed declared still its own.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Illinois Central R.R. Co. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387 (1892)
Read more at supreme.justia.com. The source reveals the outcome.